Just for the heck of it, replace the u joints. There is no way, while
driving a car, I can tell the difference between a failing bearing or a
failing u joint. The failing u joint tends to, but not always, squeek at low
speeds and thje squeek increases as the wheel speed increases. At speed you
just get noise. The u joint is easier to replace than pulling apart the
differential. I tend to pull the entire shaft out and put it on the bench,
replacing both front and rear. The rear seems to always be the culprit.
The problem is that you are listening to the car. Just drive it and any
problem will grow to the point where it becomes obvious.
The only time I found excessive rotational slack on a differential was when
I found the bolts to be loose on a crown gear. Not on a Healey but on an
International Harvester. But to check those on the Healey you need to pull
the unit apart. Slamming the pinion shaft back and forth will fail to
diagnose the problem. Of course look for metal in oil drainage from both
sets of gears.
Go with the easy and frequent problem, the rear u joint.
Best Regards,
Jim LeBlanc
1956 100-M
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-healeys@Autox.Team.Net [mailto:owner-healeys@Autox.Team.Net] On
Behalf Of Freese, Ken
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2004 5:02 PM
To: 'healeys'
Subject: rear end growl continued
Over the weekend, the rear end was probed with a stethoscope both on jack
stands in 4th at 30mph and while driving around with one rear seat removed.
We never really heard the growl on the jackstands. All the bearings seemed
to emit a nice whir including the OD rear.
We did notice a clickety clack noise that seemed to come from the diff and
that there was almost 1/4 inch rotational slack at the pinion flange while
my spare diff is more like .030!
While driving with the rear seat removed, we did hear the growl similar to
the normal 1st gear whine only of a different lower pitch. Most evident when
starting up a hill in 2nd. I don't hear it in 1st, but maybe the normal
whine masks it. I also think I hear it in 3rd under a low rpm load.
So maybe it is a transmission issue that I didn't hear on the jackstands
because I was in 4th direct?
Ken Freese
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